As the mercury levels drop in thermometers this winter the levels of fuel poverty rise to astonishing heights. Fuel poverty is one of the shocking black marks against 21st century Scotland and Britain as a whole. Around an estimated 800,000 Scottish households (1 in 3 households!) are described to be living in fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is generally defined as “the need to spend 10% or more of income to pay for fuel bills.”
The main causes of fuel poverty is a combination of low disposable income and the soaring price it now costs to heat your home. If we ever needed an example to show people in Scotland that Capitalism is based on the extortion of the people through the sole goal to make as much money while not having a second thought for your fellow human being then the recent price hikes in fuel bills by energy companies showed the ice cold compassion of a capitalist.
The elderly are one of the most vunerable groups to fuel poverty
In the first 6 months of 2010 British Gas made operating profits of £585 million (up 98% on last year). This averages out at £3.3 million every 24 hours. This came after one of the coldest winters on record as people struggled to keep warm. Its parent company Centrica also seen a profit rise. Centrica’s profits in the first 6 months of 2010 soared up 65% to £1.56billion . Do the public see these profits passed on by the reduction in fuel bills? Of course not. These profits line the pockets of the company bosses. A classic example of an over used but completely factual phrase in this case: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We simply cannot allow these companies to continually raise prices and plunge millions across Scotland and the ’UK’ into fuel poverty.
Chief Executive of Centrica Sam Laidlaw (Wank)
If prices keep rising then the poorest people in our society will increasingly struggle to cope. It will also in theory create higher and higher numbers of those in fuel poverty.
Ironically while writing this my 92 year old great grandmothers pipes burst (covered through her Scottish Gas insurance thing for her house). As I write this my family have been waiting for over an hour on the phone seeking help. You would think the bastards could at least properly staff their call centres.
It is in my opinion Fuel Poverty will be one of the great struggles faced in society in the next 10 years. There is no light at the end of the tunnel – just a bleak cold existence for so many of our fellow citizens.
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Great post. I too have noticed the stuff about Fuel Poverty in the news and am increasingly aware of old people and students who simply cannot afford to heat their homes over winters. Our need fuels corporate greed, as your statistics prove.
Hello there meghan. I am glad you enjoyed the post as it was my first one I have done!
Sadly things will only get worse unless drastic action is undertook.
Spot on Aidan. What’s really disgraceful is that people will die as a result of fuel poverty, and it’s not even deemed newsworthy. Corporate murder as far as I’m concerned…
A really well written piece, mate. I’m far from a supporter of the SSP, but your writing’s really thought provoking. Avoid being so informal, though.
Hi Jordan, thanks for your comment, SSY appreciates it, just wanted to butt in though and say that the SSY blog is a large collective of writers – some write academically, some write journalistically, some write personal accounts in Scots, etc… it’s all gravy, we don’t have a prescribed style of doing things – formal or informal, all relevant writing is welcome!
This highlights my earlier statement on monoplisation. Because of no competition there is no prices of a reasonable standard to put a great defence of the state and its effect if used in a good manner. The healthiest period was during the second world war due to the implication of rationing before that many people did not have access to some of the food rationing gave them and of course the rich couldn’t stuff themselves. I know it probably wouldn’t get votes but Rationing is a true sign of equality in a society.
Centrica should never have been privatised its a disgrace when prices when down on the international supply chains our prices remained almost constant but when they rise you feel them every time.
Great post Aiden, the issue of fuel poverty is for me one of the clearest examples of the contradiction between the capitalist logic of profit and human need. The sight of energy prices rising every winter to make a profit from people who have to choose between heating and eating, or risk freezing in their homes, is one of the most distressing examples of the violence that capitalism inflicts upon humanity every day.